After the Sacramento Kings made him the 10th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft on the strength of a collegiate reputation built scoring buckets at BYU, Jimmer Fredette entered the professional ranks with staggering levels of both hype and skepticism surrounding his game. The skeptics got the better of things during his rookie season, as Fredette fell short of fulfilling (unreasonably high) expectations and struggled to provide backcourt bang for a languishing Kings team. As he enters his second year, Fredette's reportedly doubled down on his offseason preparation , working on improving his often unimpressive defense and finding space without the ball to be able to contribute alongside point guards Isaiah Thomas and Aaron Brooks. He also got married to former BYU cheerleader/ Cruella de Vil enthusiast Whitney Wonnacott in a June 3 ceremony that was reportedly lovely and briefly caused a UFO scare , as most fine receptions do. Interestingly enough, during a stop on a preseason book tour promoting "The Contract," the new book written by Y! colleague Pat Forde on Fredette's journey to the pros, the former BYU star told Dick Harmon of the Deseret News that he thinks becoming a married man might help him step his game up as much as, if not more than, all that offseason work on the pick-and-roll: Fredette said his summer marriage to Whitney, a former BYU cheerleader, is the best decision he's made and will help him in the NBA. He says marriage has changed him a lot and having a partner to share his ups and downs will prove valuable. "Whitney is an amazing girl and so supportive of me and now when I travel, she can travel with me so I don't have to go at it alone and don't have to worry about that part of my life and she will be there to support me just like I will be there to support her. " Fredette said thinking and worrying about basketball all the time can, sometimes, hurt a player. "The last three months has been great and I'm excited in what the future holds. Whitney is the best, she is so kind to everyone, understanding of my schedule and knowing what I have to do. She is supportive, just like I am with her." Now, before we dust off our decade-old Doug and Jackie Christie jokes like good little Sports Guys and Gals, it's worth noting that, on balance, this is a very reasonable thing.
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